


Boneyard

by gypsiangel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Humor, M/M, Modern Muggle University, Paranormal investigaors AU, Spaz Sirius, Tattooed Remus, accident recovery, bit of angst, mentions depression/anxiety, mentions hurt Remus, mentions of past violence, there will be sexing and foul language ahead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-23 11:19:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8325751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gypsiangel/pseuds/gypsiangel
Summary: "One last investigation before we all scatter to the winds." Famous last words, Evans, famous last words.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 'Tis the season to spin a tale of chasing haunts! Lol, no, really, this is what happens when you've listened to one too many horror/ghost hunting podcast while simultaneously obsessing over HP wolfstar. :D This shouldn't be too drawn out, with quick updates. Please lmk what you guys think!

 

          “Please, Remus, just one more investigation before we all scatter to the winds.” The plaintive sound of his best friend’s voice was hard to ignore, but he gave it a good effort. It helped that he couldn’t see her pretty, freckled face from behind the dubious sanctuary of their shared bathroom door. He sighed when she rattled the doorknob impatiently, irritated when she found herself locked out. “Come out and talk to me.”

          “No,” he said, resolutely picking up the shaving cream to start lathering up his face. “I’m taking my allotted time in the bath, Evans, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

          “You leave me no choice,” she sighed and he groaned at the sound of the butter knife sliding between the doorjam and the latch assembly, efficiently picking the flimsy lock. He stared at her in disbelief, half of his face covered with the thick shaving soap, amber green eyes blinking at her audacity. “Now you have to talk to me.”

          “You’re lucky you’re my best friend and I love you more than any other.” He snorted, shaking his head. Nonchalantly, he returned to prepping for his shave. “The answer is still going to be no. I have too much on my plate to take off for a weekend, besides, I’d rather not get killed before I have a chance to get out of our first year of university. McGonagall is making noises about extra credit projects and you know I need all of those I can get if I’m going to bring my grade up on time.”

          “You’re not going to get killed, and I can help you with the extra credit, we’re in the same class, remember? It’ll help both of us. The place I have picked out isn’t crazy dilapidated or inhabited by rabid squatters, it’s just barely out of city limits, _and_ I actually got permission from the owner.”

          Remus paused mid razor stroke and narrowed his eyes at her. There was only one place that fit all of that criteria, and they’d been trying to get in for what felt like years. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

          Lily’s grin was triumphant as she noted the gleam in his eyes. “Not even close to kidding. Rem, we’ve been waiting for this for two years! I finally got ahold of the Malfoys and they’ve given permission. The _heir_ himself sent a signed notice saying that we could bring our equipment and see what we can dig up. Of course, we’re liable for any sort of damages incurred and there’s going to be another team there at the same time, but it’s a big place and we can move around them if necessary. He was saying that the manor’s going to be demolished sometime next year and turned into high scale townhomes if he has his way. Something about it being a blight on the family name. Now that his father’s finally kicked it, he can legally do whatever he wants to the property. This is our last chance.”

          “Lily, I don’t know if I want to go on another trip out,” he told her, losing all amusement at her antics. “After what happened last time, I don’t know if I’m up to it.”

          Her smile fading, Lily looked down with a tiny sigh. “I’m not trying to push you, Remus, and I’m sorry if it seems like it. This is just our last year with the full crew and we’ve been waiting for this opportunity forever. Marlene is transferring at the end of the semester, Alice and Frank are taking off to get married in the spring, and the twins… well, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon, but it just won’t be the same without three of our original group. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and we’ll go over the blueprints like mad.”

          There was one name she hadn’t brought up yet, and Remus wiped at the remains of soap on his cheek before turning to lean a hip against the sink. “What about Severus? Would he be coming with us?”

          Color blossomed in her cheeks and she looked uncomfortable. He felt a sinking in the pit of his stomach and crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing eyes in on her face. “Lily, please tell me he’s not coming.”

          “He’s promised to be on his best behavior.”

          “Fuck!” The curse was so vehement that Lily jumped guiltily. Remus rubbed at his forehead and gritted his teeth. There was no way in hell he was going to let her go by herself if that son of a bitch was joining the investigation. “Lily, _bloody_ _fuck_! All right. Just to make sure he doesn’t get anyone hurt or worse, I’ll go. But it’s under severe protest, and if he steps one toe out of line, I swear on Gid’s lucky rucksack, I’ll toss him out a goddamn window.”

          “Oh, Remus, really?” Lily’s face lit up and she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist in excitement. “I didn’t want to do it without you, and this is so important to everything we’ve done. You won’t regret it, I promise.”

          Remus had a bad feeling that he _was_ going to regret it, but he knew that one way or another he would have gone along with her madcap adventure. Malfoy Manor was the wet dream of paranormal investigations; long history of tragic and fucked up happenings, huge and rambling grounds, the house built by what seemed to be a raving lunatic with too much money and imagination. The site was made even more attractive by its inaccessible status. The Malfoy family had abandoned the property, but still had a hired crew to maintain it and paid a fortune in security services to keep people out.

          He squeezed his friend one last time before letting her go. No, he wasn’t ready to go back out, but Lily was right. This opportunity was far too good to let pass.

*~*~*

          “Pads! Fuck, yes! We got it, we got it, we _fucking_ got it!”

          Sirius Black startled and nearly dropped his cup of tea as his best mate flew into their shared kitchen, shouting far too excitedly for nine o’clock on a Saturday morning. “The bloody fuck you on about, Prongs?”

          “Malfoy Manor,” James pounded the side of his fist against the kitchen island excitedly. His brown eyes gleamed behind the wire rims of his glasses. “We got permission to investigate Malfoy Fucking Manor.”

          “What?” Sirius felt his own heart begin to race. They’d been trying to get permission to go on those grounds for what felt like forever, and had even concocted a few ill-advised plans to infiltrate the intense security to do a quick look-see. “You’re shitting me, mate. There’s no way Lucius Malfoy removed the stick from his arse long enough to let us in.”

          “I’m not, and he did,” James’s grin was infectious as he bounced on the balls of his feet. “The only downside is that we have to share with another group and we have to pay for any kind of damage that we cause. Really, it can’t be that bad to share. Maybe we can even join up and cover more ground. I already talked to Pete and he’s all in. Moody’s pulling a grump, but he’ll come around, and you know Shacklebolt’ll go just to say he’s gone. MacDonald’s so far in Pete’s knickers that she’ll go just to keep him in her sights.”

          Sirius’s early morning crankiness evaporated and he joined his friend with a celebratory whoop. “When are we loading up, oh, great leader?”

          “Next Friday night.” James reached for the still steaming kettle to pour himself a cup now that the excellent news had been delivered. “It’s going to be a full weekend, so we’ll have to pack accordingly.”

          He stopped as if something had just occurred to him, wide eyes darting to Sirius. “Fuck, what if the second group is Evans’s?”

          Sirius didn’t even bother biting back his groan of dismay. “James, pal, let’s hope it’s not for once! That bird has an ongoing, deep hatred of the very ground you walk on. Besides, isn’t she dating that Lupin bloke?”

          “There is absolutely no concrete proof that she’s dating Lupin, so far it’s merely rumor. They could just be sharing a flat out of necessity, yeah? Or does that mean you and I are an item since we live together?”

          Holding out his hands in defeat, Sirius smirked. “Whatever you say, Prongs, whatever you say. I’m just trying to be the voice of reason, yeah?”

          “As if you’re any better about ‘that Lupin bloke’,” James snorted, turning his back on his friend to rummage in the nearly bare cupboards for anything edible. “You’ve been panting after those long legs since last spring.”

          “In case you missed the last half of our conversation, _arse_ , Lupin isn’t fucking bent. According to near everyone on campus, the two of them are shagging.” Sirius tried to hide his sudden irritation. James had to be one of the most oblivious, stubborn idiots. Lovable as fuck, but an idiot all the same- as far as Lily Evans was concerned anyway. He tried to cover his out of character reaction to the thought of the mysterious and incredibly fit Remus Lupin by making a derogatory remark about the state of their empty cupboards and suggesting breakfast out before going shopping.

 

*~*~*

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! :D Just for the record, I'm as far from British as you can get, and it shows in my hopefully not too horrible attempt at writing in the slang. Please keep that in mind as you make your way though this. As always, lmk what you think- though if it's bad, please be nice, I'm a sensitive soul.

 

*~*~*

          “Remus.”

          “Severus.” Remus eyed the black haired boy warily as they stood outside the open back door of Lily’s minivan she’d inherited from her mother last year. It wasn’t the most fashionable vehicle on the road, but it did come in handy to haul equipment. After a long moment of awkward silence, Remus turned his back abruptly, started hefting the audio equipment cases and walked toward the front entrance where Lily was standing with a blonde man not too much older than they were. That was enough time devoted to the overgrown bat. Remus had gotten over the compulsive need to make a show of being friendly to someone who went out of their way to be a nasty git. He had better things to attend.

          Lucius Malfoy was impeccably dressed in posh casual, wearing what Remus could only describe as ‘rich yuppie goth’; black designer jeans, black silk button down shirt, what looked like a black brocade vest and a tailored black overcoat with shiny buttons. His handsome face twisted just a bit as Remus came into view, and he could just about hear the thoughts running through the other man’s head. Lily smiled brightly and tucked a rogue tendril of hair behind her ear, turning up the charm as she said, “Mr. Malfoy, this is my partner, Remus Lupin. He’s the co-founder of Moondance Investigations, and he’s going to help me run this investigation.”

          Cold blue eyes started at his battered Converse and glanced over torn jeans and a black hoodie that had seen better days. Fingerless gloves covered all but the tips of hi fingers and kept his hands from freezing off, and Remus was sure that it just added to the hoodlum image. He couldn’t be bothered with it, and he’d told Lily as much before they’d even left. If they were going to be spending the weekend at a place where they were going to be strolling through some not-so-habitable situations, he wasn’t going to get all dolled up like a fop just to impress one bloke who was going to see him as vermin no matter how he dressed.

          “Charmed,” Lucius drawled and deliberately turned his attention back to Lily. He pulled a key ring out of his pocket and handed it to her, making sure his own gloved fingers didn’t touch her palm. Remus felt a surge of irritation and bit back the urge to say something inappropriate and scathing. This man was doing them a favor by letting them inside his ancestral home when he didn’t have to. “Be sure to make copies of whatever footage you find. Dobbs is the caretaker, if you have any concerns, please feel free to bring them to his attention. His residence is the converted carriage house located at the back of the property. Do not contact me unless there is a dire emergency. I will be in touch sometime next week, after you had a chance to go over the footage. As for the other group joining you-”

          Remus made eye contact with Lily and indicated with a subtle head jerk that he was going to start carrying things inside to the ballroom, where they’d agreed was the best place to set up base. As he left, he refrained from flipping the pompous arse the finger. There would be plenty of time for that later, he promised himself as he slipped into the cool, dark interior of the manor house.

          Despite sitting empty for several years, Malfoy Manor was very well kept with only a hint of the telltale musty scent that came with all abandoned buildings. What furnishings not under the heavy dust covers still held its shine under a very thin layer of dust, and the scent of lemon polish tickled Remus’s nose. He took his time finding the right hallway for the ballroom, taking in the dark wood paneling and white-gray lumps of covered furniture. The walls were decorated with ancestor portraits and he shivered as he passed by one aristocratic blonde after another. He wondered if all of them were naturally that pale, or if it was only the people with those particular traits who were chosen to go on the walls. It looked like all of them were sneering down at him and he seriously considered taking them down while they were investigating.

          It wouldn’t be practical, he decided with a sigh as he finally found his way into the echoing ballroom on the second floor. Pulling out his flashlight, Remus searched for the bay of light switches and nearly fell through the open trap door on the small raised theatre stage toward the back of the room. Letting loose a string of half-muttered curses, he limped his way to the lights. Flipping them all on with a little more force than necessary, he blinked in the sudden blinding light and then slowly went through shutting them off one by one until it was more bearable.

          He was looking over the trap door he’d almost fallen in when voices cut through the silence. “Oy! Lupin, you gonna make us haul all this shite up on our own, or are you gonna take your part?”

          “Keep your knickers on, Gid! Or do you want to fumble around in the dark for a bit and find your way by yourself? Cause I can shut these bastards back off and leave you to it.”

          “Buggering fuck, Lupin, I missed your sparking wit,” Fabian laughed, the sound too loud in the cavernous space. He dropped the case he was carrying with a resounding thud and ran fingers back through the mop of unruly red hair. It was longer than it had been the last time Remus had seen him, but it suited his angular features. Gideon, the exact copy of his brother, was wearing his trademark braided leather cuff, sometimes the only way people could tell them apart.

          Shaking his head, Remus hopped down off the stage with a small wince as it jolted his still healing knee. He was off the crutches, and had been for a couple months now, but everything still seemed tender and ungainly. “Whatever, you just missed looking at my arse as we climb into dark crawlspaces.”

          “That must be it then.” Fabian clapped him on the shoulder as soon as he was close enough. “You’re even scrawnier than you were the last time we were out on a case, mate. Good thing Molly hasn’t seen you, she’d be shoving food at you to feed you up.”

          “Your sister is a menace,” Remus grumbled, but he was smiling as he added, “I’ll have to make time to go by and harass her soon.”

          “She’s fit to pop anytime now,” Gideon informed him, shoving one of the cases he’d carried up over toward the other audio equipment. “Number three and four all at the same time. Arthur should really keep his hands off for a bit, give them some breathing room.”

          Lily interrupted their idle talk of sisters and babies and brother-in-laws that have no sense of birth control. She clapped her hands with a huge grin on her face, nearly skipping toward them, Severus following at a more sedate pace. “We got here first, so we have prime choice on where to set up. Alice, Frank, and Marlene just pulled up, so we can get unloaded a lot faster. Malfoy gave me a list of rooms we can stay in upstairs, but we have to double up. There’s thirty rooms in this place and he’s only allowing us seven total. I claim Remus as roomie.”

          There was a chorus of disappointed groans and Remus rolled his eyes and started for the hallway leading out. “No bitching,” he heard Lily state. “As co-founder, I exercise my right to keep our overgrown puppy to myself.”

          “Hey!” Remus turned just before he got to the door and flipped her the bird, adding to the riot of amusement. He noted that Severus looked as if he’d just been assaulted by a lemon and felt a prickling of justified satisfaction. He and Lily weren’t an item, considering the fact that they’d known each other for so long that it would be just like dating a sibling, and he wasn’t exactly into women. That wasn’t common knowledge, even among their friends. There were suspicions, of course, but no one had actually come right out and asked, and Remus wasn’t going to volunteer the information. Marlene knew, because she’d been friends with him for almost as long as Lily had, and it was hard not to know the ins and outs of those kinds of things when you all discovered it together.

          Alice had pieced it together, nearly at the same time she’d stumbled on the knowledge that Marlene wasn’t terribly interested in the male species. Frank was the type of bloke that didn’t care one way or another and was so nonchalant about everything that Remus had no idea if he knew or not. He assumed he did, because he knew Alice couldn’t keep her mouth shut if she was paid.

          What mattered, Remus mused as he slung his duffle bag over his shoulder and hefted a couple more cases, was that Severus Snape didn’t know and was under the misconception that he and Lily were an item and he was going to use that to his best advantage. Now, how to do that without alerting his best friend of his intentions was going to be the tricky part. Lily was aware that he was still angry over Severus’s actions that had nearly resulted in getting him paralyzed or killed, and _had_ resulted in an injury that had required surgery and months of recuperation that was still in the healing process. And she was rather guilty of using Remus as a deterrent to overzealous men that had a problem with ‘no’. She just wouldn’t appreciate Remus using it against Severus, who she was still in denial over. Of course, she’d been angry with him and closed off communication for months after the investigation gone wrong, but she’d eventually determined that it had been an accident and he would never really do anything that would intentionally hurt another crew member.

          Remus knew better- he’d been on the receiving end of the boiled over malice that Severus Snape was capable of.

*~*~*

          “Bollocks, Pete! We’re fucking late, and all you can do is whine on about fucking _coffee_!” James was already at his wits end, glaring at their unfortunate friend who had still been rushing around gathering what he thought he’d need for the weekend when they’d showed up to pick him up. He’d overslept and then gone into a panic, which had resulted in even more chaos than absolutely necessary. It had taken Sirius shoving him into the kitchen to calm down with the to-go cup of tea he’d brought for himself, and Shacklebolt sliding in to help James shove the rest of his things into the duffle.

          Now that they were finally on the road, Pete had the gall to ask to stop for coffee, as the tea wasn’t strong enough to wake him completely. James looked as if he were about to pull the SUV over and stab someone. Sirius scowled back over his shoulder into the backseat and told him, “Don’t even fucking start. I gave you my tea, you ungrateful-”

          “Hey! Hey, let’s not start out like this, mates,” Shacklebolt interrupted, his deep baritone cutting through the interior of the vehicle. “We’ve got three days together and the most important investigation of our careers ahead of us. Let’s not muck it up before it even gets started, yeah?”

          James’s eyes narrowed and his fingers tightened briefly on the steering wheel before he purposefully relaxed his shoulders and let out a long breath. “Right. You’re right. But we’re still not stopping for bloody coffee, or anything else. It’s almost two hours past the time we were supposed to meet with Malfoy and the other team already has a jump on us. Let’s just hope that they’re not complete twats and are willing to combine forces instead of just giving us what they haven’t already claimed, which could be the entire goddamn building.”

          Falling into sullen silence, the other boys stared out their respective windows for the rest of the thirty-minute drive. When they pulled up and saw the familiar mini-van already parked and unloaded, James let out a frustrated groan and banged his head against the steering wheel. As much as he’d wanted it to be Evans’s team, right at this moment, he wished it was _anyone_ but her. The chances of them sweet talking her into letting them combine resources was incredibly low. Despite his confidence when it came to eventually winning her over, he was a secret realist when it came right down to it. He’d been hoping for a success after the first day of dancing around and getting set up. In his daydreams of how this whole episode was going to work out, his team had gotten there early- or at least on time and he could have magnanimously offered to do the friendly and gentlemanly thing of merging together to get the most out of this rare opportunity. All for her benefit, of course.

          Fuck all of that now. The best he could hope for at this point was rely on her sense of fair play. Which might disappear when she realized that he was the one she’d be working with. “Let me do the talking,” James started, and Sirius looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.

          “No offense, Jamie, but that is one of the worst ideas you’ve ever had,” Sirius blurted. “The last thing we need is for you to be doing the talking. Red would rather relegate us to the back property than share anything with you. Let me or Pete do the talking, it might go a bit better. Hell, it might go even better yet if you wait out here until after we-”

          “Sirius, don’t make me put your eye out.”

          Sirius shot him a look and opened his door to get out without another word, going around to the back to open it up.

         “Mate-”

         “Not another word.” James got out of his side and took a few cleansing breaths of the cool air and watched as the second vehicle slow to a stop next to him. Alistor Moody looked as if someone had pissed all over his favorite trainers and he was being forced to wear them anyway. Tall and broad, he unfolded himself from the driver’s seat and clomped over to stand next to James. Dressed in faded jeans, gray t-shirt and denim jacket, he looked like he’d just stepped off the rugby field, black eye and taped nose included.

        “Jesus, Moody, what the hell happened to you?”

        A grin cracked the rugged features and he shrugged massive shoulders. “Late night.”

        “He stepped in front of a fist aimed at me.” Mary MacDonald slid out of her side of the van and sided up near them, surprising James when she slipped an arm around Moody’s waist, and he returned the gesture with an arm over her slim shoulders. “We all met up for drinks last night to celebrate…” her nose wrinkled as she tried to remember why they were out celebrating, then gave up with a shrug. “Whatever, and some git got fresh and grabbed my bum. I told him off, he got aggressive, and Moody took him out.”

        From the looks of things, that wasn’t the only thing Moody took, James thought. As if this morning could get any worse. He was pissed at Pete, but he was still one of his best friends and he didn’t want to see him hurt. Not that Pete and Mary had been official or really exclusive, but he knew his mate had been trying to work up the courage to ask her for more of a commitment. The urge to kick the side of his SUV was nearly overwhelming. He never in a million years thought that Mary MacDonald and ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody would get together- with or without Pete in the mix. It just didn’t seem possible; they were two completely different people. Mary was this sweet, pastel and satin kind of broad, all soft edges and sweet smells. Moody was rough and outright frightening to people that didn’t know him, and intimidating to those that did.

       After rubbing at his eyes and wishing he could just go home and start this entire shit-show over, James turned to look at the grand entrance to the manor home. He squared his shoulders and started up the front steps, glancing over at Sirius, who had fallen into step beside him. A familiar grin was playing on his mate’s face and James couldn’t help the answering lip-twitch.

        “Could be better, could be worse,” Sirius reminded him, elbowing his side playfully. “But we’re bloody well here, Prongs. Even if it’s shite, we’re still fucking here.”

         “You’re right.”

          “Of course, I’m right. Now don’t fuck this up, Prongs. We’re counting on you to not piss her off on first glance, yeah?”

          Easier said than done, James mused bleakly as they disappeared into the depths.

*~*~*

 


	3. Chapter 3

*~*~*

          Barely halfway down the first hallway out of the front foyer, they were greeted by a pair of impossibly long legs dangling down from what looked like a previously hidden cupboard off to the side of a wall-length bookcase filled to the brim with what looked to be very old manuscripts. One of the legs was sporting a no-nonsense black walking brace stretching about three inches above and below the knee. Sirius grabbed James’s arm and pulled him to a stop, drawing his attention to the unlikely sight. When they moved into what must have been a man’s study, they heard a very miffed voice call out, “Gideon, I swear to _fucking Christ_ if you don’t get your arse back in here, I’m gonna feed your eyeballs to the bloody crows!”

          Sirius felt his face start to burn as he realized exactly who those too familiar legs belonged to. The jeans were well-worn and faded, the knees ripped out and the fabric stretched over an arse almost too shapely to belong to a bloke. As they watched, rooted to the spot, Remus Lupin tried to pull himself up further into the cupboard but merely succeeded in slipping down just a bit further. Sirius’s mouth went dry when the black sweatshirt rode up a little in the back, showing a few significant inches of well-muscled back and a hint of black ink.

           Another angry shout, this one tinged with a bit of desperate fear, “ _Gideon!_ I just barely got out of crutches, you mangy tosser! If I fall out of this because you fucking left, I’m taking you back to the bloody hospital with me!”

          “Hey, mate, you need some help there,” James offered finally, moving toward the now identified and panicking Remus. He gave Sirius a knowing smirk when he saw the gobsmacked look he sported as he was finally face to… well… face with the object of his obsession since he had run into him at the university library the December of last year.

          “Bloody fuck, yes,” Remus called down, lowering his volume considerably, though there was till that note of fear to his slightly muffled voice. “If you can get me down from here without breaking my knee again, I’d really appreciate it. One go round is more than enough. I’m going to fucking kill him.”

          “All right, mate, we’ve got you,” James said and gestured for Sirius to take Remus’s other side. Feeling like his heartbeat had fled south, Sirius wrapped his arm around one of Remus’s legs, bracing his shoulder just behind his upper thigh, very careful of the knee brace. He hadn’t thought that he would ever be this close, and the scent of the other man teased all of his senses. He smelled of cold air, books, clean laundry and sandalwood soap, and Sirius wanted desperately to press his face into the soft material and just inhale.

          “Ease down. We’ve got you.” Thank the gods James hadn’t lost his ability to speak in such situations.

          The moment Remus wiggled the rest of the way out of the hidden cupboard and was lowered to the floor, the Prewett twins came rushing in, carrying a large stepladder between them. “Sorry, Moons, we couldn’t find the ladder and had to send Snape after the caretaker and he took forever. We finally found one in the back storage shed area.”

          “Words to the wise,” Remus bit out, obviously still angry as he adjusted his clothes back to where they were supposed to be. Red-faced, he fidgeted for a moment, then took off his hoodie as he continued, “Don’t send Snape after anything that pertains to me, especially if it’s a fucking safety concern, yeah?”

          Sirius had a hard time concentrating as the short sleeves of Remus’s t-shirt showed off one arm fully sleeved with black and blue tribal ink, and a half-formed Welsh dragon on the other forearm. Right before he tugged the collar of his shirt back into place, Sirius’s eyes caught on a black spiral just on the left side of his collarbone. “Sorry, Rem,” Gideon tried to touch Remus’s shoulder and frowned when he flinched back. “He volunteered and I thought-”

         “Of course he volunteered,” Remus muttered, and ran his still gloved hands through his tousled golden brown hair. Realizing he was still wearing them, he tugged them off. He was losing steam now that he was safely on the ground again. “Let’s just forget about it and move on.”

         Curtly, he turned to James and Sirius, a rather tight smile playing at the corners of his lips. He held out a hand to James, “Remus Lupin. You guys must be with the other paranormal group coming in to investigate. This is Gideon and Fabian, and the others are scattered here and there. Lily should be upstairs in the ballroom with Marlene checking the camera feeds as we get them online.”

          “I think we’ve already met,” James said, but reached out to shake his hand with an easy grin anyway. “We go to the same university. James Potter, and this is Sirius Black. The others should be unloading. Sorry we’re so late, there was a… thing.”

          Remus’s smile turned genuine and he turned his attention to Sirius, making him swallow hard and try to reign in this sudden and uncharacteristic shyness. Holy hell, he hadn’t acted this way over a bloke since their days at boarding school and he’d just realized he liked boys a little more than girls. When he touched Remus’s hand and the warm, elegant fingers wrapped around his, he couldn’t help but imagine what they would feel like running over other, more sensitive places. Goddamn it.

         He hadn’t been close enough to see Remus’s eyes before, just knowing that they were a rather unusual hue from what some of their classmates had gossiped. He wasn’t disappointed looking into a wide amber green surrounded by the thickest black lashes he’d ever seen. Those eyes crinkled and a flash of acknowledgement made Sirius blink and look away awkwardly.

          “Come on, let’s go find Lily and we can get everything sorted,” Remus said, saving Sirius from making a complete arse out of himself. “We talked it over when we got here and decided that we should offer to share resources and cover more ground quicker. All of us have our strengths and we work really well as a unit, but it might do us all some good to be paired up with someone we’re not used to going out with all the time. Maybe seeing things differently would help us get better results.”

          “Thank the gods,” James breathed, the tension visibly going out of his shoulders. “I was going to suggest the same thing but was worried that you guys would think we just wanted to make sure we got a fair shake since we were so late getting here.”

          Remus waved his hand as he disappeared into the hall. “We’re not total arseholes, Potter. Even if you didn’t want to set up with us, we’d still give you a fair deal. Lil and I thought it’d be a good thing to work together instead of tripping over each other.”

          “Good point,” Sirius finally found his voice, though it sounded a bit hoarse. He cleared his throat and rubbed at the back of his neck, shrugging when James shot him an amused look that promised a heap of teasing when they were alone. “We’ll take it.”

          When they moved into the cavernous ballroom they were greeted by a hub of activity centered on a trio of sturdy card tables with a number of electronics scattered about. Three laptops were arranged side by side, all of them obviously personal computers belonging to different team members. One was white with different doodles cut out and taped to the outer shell, mostly of fantastical creatures like unicorns and dryads and in the corner, there was a witch’s cauldron simmering over a billowing fire. The other two were black, one unadorned and the other covered by a wolf-head drawn in the same style as the doodles on the other laptop, only this was more than just something done to pass the time. A lot of effort and thought had gone into it. Sirius wondered who the artist was.

          “Hey, they got you down, Rem! Good.” The redhead peered up at them and focused on the tall man leading them in. Her brows creased as she looked him over. “No more climbing into inaccessible, dark places. I can’t keep my promise to not get you killed if you don’t cooperate.”

          “Don’t send Severus to help me, and we’ll be fine, yeah?” There was a bite to Remus’s response that made Lily’s frown deepen.

          “Not this again.” Lily pursed her lips and tapped her fingers against the tabletop. “You can’t keep thinking that he’s out to get you, Remus. Seriously, what happened last year was a bloody accident that we all learned from, yeah?”

          Remus looked as if he were going to argue, then obviously decided it wasn’t worth the fight. He waved a hand back to James and Sirius, “The second team’s here. I’m going to go up and see if Frank and Alice need help in the attic.”

          “Remus…” Lily leaned back in her chair, shoulders slumping as he continued walking. “Damnit.”

          “What happened last year,” Sirius asked, now that his tongue seemed to be working again. “Remus said something about a broken knee?”

          “There was an accident involving scaffolding in an old theatre we were staking out. The ropes and chains holding them up gave out while he and Severus were up there for EVP work. Remus was the only one who fell, and he’s convinced that someone must have unhooked the chains. Since Sev had left to come back down for something right before it happened… well, you get the point.”

          “Ouch.” James made the appropriate sympathetic noises, but Sirius knew that his friend was really reveling in the fact that Lily Evans was actually speaking to him like a colleague and not some irritating, creepy bloke that kept asking her out after she’d told him no in about forty different ways and three different languages.

          “Yeah. It shattered Rem’s knee, broke three ribs, and the docs said that if he would have landed just a bit different, it could have broken his back and snapped his spine. As it was, he was in hospital for a month with surgeries for his knee and to heal up the rest of it. It really did wonders for his disposition, I tell you.” Her voice was filled with fondness, and Sirius couldn’t help but notice the soft look in her eyes as she spoke about her friend.

          “So,” she shook herself and turned to the task at hand. “Remus probably already told you that we were thinking of putting our crews together so we can get the most out of this opportunity, yeah?”

           James nodded eagerly and grinned, “Which we’ll take you up on, happily.”

           “Good,” Lily said, then without further delay started informing them of what kinds of equipment they had and outlined the very basic plan of attack. Within minutes, the two of them were enmeshed in inventory and blueprints. Sirius decided to leave them to it and go rally the rest of their group and help unload. So far, so good. He just needed to work on getting more information about Remus Lupin and exactly what his official relationship with Lily Evans was without making an epic fool of himself.  

*~*~*

          On his way back into the manor after speaking to the useless and long-winded caretaker, Severus tried to muster enough enthusiasm to hurry and failed. By the time he actually got back, either Remus would have already fallen or the Prewett boys would have figured a way to get the dolt back on the ground. Either way, it was out of his hands and he couldn’t really care much less.

          It wasn’t as if he had a burning hatred for the other man. In fact, there had been a time when the two of them had been almost friends. That had all changed when they’d all graduated out of high school and went to two different universities. Remus and Lily had been accepted to one campus, but Severus had elected to go to a different, more specialized school where he could take advantage of their superb chemistry department and possibly go into teaching at a doctorate level. He hadn’t realized that Lily would start to distance once they were no longer in daily contact.

          She and Lupin had pooled their limited funds together and with some help from their parents, had rented a tiny hovel of a place, and that’s where they’d been since. Severus had kept their standing coffee date every Saturday, and when she’d come to him with the offer of a spot on their ‘paranormal investigation’ team, he’d jumped at the chance to hang out with her more often. He hadn’t realized how droll and ridiculous it was. It was a time waster, and he’d never been one to enjoy wasting his time; there were plenty other things to do than go risk life and limb to possibly ‘catch’ mist or shadows on film. But Lily had been excited and overflowing with enthusiasm. Along with Remus, the two of them acted much like their thirteen year old selves had over scary movies and horror novels.

          Severus missed those times, though he was loathe to admit it out loud. Seeing them together had soured the nostalgia, and now he was wondering if he should just count his losses and walk away. Since the accident last year when Lupin had gotten injured, the other boy had been hostile and could hardly stand to look him in the face, let alone speak to him. Lily had been just as angry for a while, believing him not only capable of causing the walkway to come unhooked, but willing. He wouldn’t be upset if Lily’s boyfriend were no longer in the picture, but he wouldn’t actively wish harm on the fool- or enact it, for that matter.

          The moment he re-entered the manor, he realized that the second team had arrived and they were now dealing with an extra six people. What exactly they were hoping to catch on their recorders with so many bodies everywhere, he had absolutely no idea. The old caretaker had been vaguely ominous, however, speaking in broken English about Lucius Malfoy having this place torn down soon, despite the authorities denying him the permits because of the historical value of the property. It was something to that effect, and had been said with an overblown sadness that Severus had chalked up to the man losing his home and employment in one fell-swoop.

          Marlene came by with an orange extension cord dangling from her arm and rerouted him to follow her to the second floor. Seems Remus had been rescued by James. Fucking. Potter. His day just turned even worse, and Severus wondered if it wouldn’t be more prudent to just gather his things and take a taxi out.

*~*~*

         In the attic space separated and hidden from the accessible areas, a man lingered and watched the monitors set up in discreet areas that the 'ghost hunters' wouldn't find them. He spoke into the headset, eyes riveted to the action in the ballroom. _"Keep your distance and meet me in the cellar after they're down for the night. We start tonight."_

*~*~*

 

 


End file.
